Mumbai Indians, Punjab Kings stars among players set to play against Namibia in One-Day series
Cricket Namibia is playing against a state association of India for the second time. The earlier collaboration was with Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) last year in June. This series is organised to prepare for upcoming tour of Scotland.
Cricket Namibia has joined hands with Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) for a five-match One-Day series starting from today (July 3). This series is part of their preparation for their upcoming tour of Scotland for the 2027 ICC CWC League 2 ODI tri-series later this month, also involving Oman. A host of Indian Premier League (IPL) stars will be taking part in the series for Punjab side and that will make it an exciting contest to watch.
This is not the first time that Namibia will be playing against India's state team. Last year, they hosted Karnataka state team for five One-Day matches and this time around, they are hosting Punjab for the same set of matches. Mumbai Indians players Nehal Wadhera, Naman Dhir, Ramandeep Singh are part of the Punjab squad while the likes of Gurnoor Singh Brar, Harpreet Brar who play for Punjab Kings have also been picked.
A couple of Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) players Sanvir Singh and Mayank Markande have also been picked as all these players have got a unique opportunity to experience tough conditions away from home. The five-match One-Day series is set to get underway on July 3 with all the matches set to be played at Wanderers Sports Club in Windhoek.
Namibia team was recently in action during the T20 World Cup in the West Indies and the USA where they faced teams like Australia and England. They managed to win against Oman in the super over but they lost to Scotland as well registering only one win in four matches to bow out of the group stage itself. The players will now be hoping to put up a good show against Punjab to prepare themselves for the upcoming tour of Scotland.
Squads
Namibia - Malan Kruger, Lohan Louwrens, Michael van Lingen, Gerhard Erasmus, JC Balt, JP Kotze, Dylan Leicher, PD Blignaut, Junior, Ben Shikongo, Tangeni Lungameni, Ruben Trumpelmann, Jan Frylinck, JJ Smit, Zacheo van Vuuren, Shaun Fouche, Max Heingo, Zane Green, Alex Volschenk
Punjab - Naman Dhir, Sanvir Singh, Pukhraj Mann, Gurnoor Singh Brar, Aradhya Shukla, Uday Pratap Saharan, Nehal Wadhera, Harpreet Brar, Ramandeep Singh, Mayank Markande, Jass Inder Singh, Siddharth Kaul, Anmolpreet Singh, Prabhsimran Singh, Anmol Malhotra
Schedule
1st One-Day - July 3: Namibia vs Punjab - 1 PM IST
2nd One-Day - July 5: Namibia vs Punjab - 1 PM IST
3rd One-Day - July 7: Namibia vs Punjab - 1 PM IST
4th One-Day - July 9: Namibia vs Punjab - 1 PM IST
5th One-Day - July 10: Namibia vs Punjab - 1 PM IST